The museum at Sado Kinzan (Sado Gold Mine) in Aikawa on Sado ranks as one of Japan's most interesting museums.

Visitors can take either the Edo Period tour of the mining shafts operated during the Edo Period (1603-1867) of Japanese history, the Meiji Period (1868-1912) tunnels or both.

After viewing the mine shafts and life-like robots at work underground, the tour progresses to a museum building with exhibits of artifacts relating to the mining industry on Sado including tools, machines and the gold coins (koban) produced from the gold ore extracted from the mine.